So after a grueling process (I missed a semester of school for medical reasons) of appealing for financial aid re-eligibility, I finally have an aid package offered to me by my school. It was much more than they’ve ever offered me (almost $14K for the year in a grant and then the full amount of federal sub/unsubed loans), which was a nice surprise at first, but when I thought about it I panicked.
My brother was dead-set on going to school this year - FAFSA and everything, even applied for and paid a deposit on housing at his school. He’s decided in the last month, however, that he doesn’t intend to go. His tuition bill was due on the 1st of August and he’s yet to pay anything. I’m a little concerned because I reported that we’d have 2 kids in college on the FAFSA, and I’m afraid that has something to do with the size of my aid package. However, a few Google searches later, it was kind of my understanding that if my brother never gets his financial aid verified at his school, then my school will know and automatically act accordingly.
However, my aid package could also be explained by my lack of scholarships this year. In the past I’ve received anywhere from $3K-$5K in scholarships and about $5K in grant money for a total of ~$10K a year for an aid package. That said, I still think the difference is quite high, and at this point I just really don’t want to end up in jail for fraud or something! Where do I start with this?
What is your EFC? If it is $0, it won’t matter because you are already receiving the maximum. It shouldn’t change the amount of loans, but may change the portion that is subsidized.
I don’t know off the top of my head but my parents make like $101K a year so I’m sure it’s not zero.
Looking at the government website about FAFSA, I saw this:
“If (and only if) you are selected for verification, you must update your FAFSA if there is a change in the number of people in your parents’ household who are in college or the number of people in your household who are in college.”
So it sounds like you don’t need to update your FAFSA unless your school said you were selected for verification. Otherwise, that question is one of those things that is OK if it is accurate the day you filled out the form.
I’m not sure how your school would know if your brother’s financial aid or enrollment came through. I don’t think the FAFSA even asks for a sibling’s name.
However, if your college at some point asked you for verification of your brother’s student status (such as his name, school, and maybe some documentation), then it sounds like once you’re quite sure he isn’t enrolled that you should probably contact them.
The surest thing, of course, is just to call them once he is definitely not enrolled and ask if this makes any difference. That’s probably the best choice. I do think, though, that if you honestly put on a form months ago that your family had two students in college, and no one asked you to verify or update that, then you’re not committing fraud just because your brother dropped out of college at a later point.
Your college is going to ask for documentation that your brother is enrolled at his school. I don’t know if any college that doesn’t ask for this.
I was asked once for one of my kids. Never asked for the other. 4 years in school for each.
I’ve had to “verify” every year so far I believe with tax returns - wondering if it was a school wide thing. I didn’t even realize that’s what it was and just assumed they always asked for them! However, all the way up until the June 1 deadline to get these documents in, my brother was planning on going to college.
@thumper1 any idea what the timetable for that would be? My tuition bill is due in 3 weeks and I haven’t seen anything about verifying it. Certainly if they ask I would disclose the situation, but I need to start filling out the application for the private loan if they’re going to adjust it. Part of me thinks it would simply be a good idea to just update the FAFSA and see what happens but this grant really takes a load off of my shoulders and if it’s not necessarily wrong for me to accept it then I want to.
At my kids’ schools…this was sent after classes started. That way the families would really know who was in college…and who wasn’t.
Receiving aid using knowingly inaccurate information is considered fraud. If you KNOW your sibling isn’t going to be in college…that would be a problem.
If you are not yet sure…wait until he actually withdraws. Then contact the college.
You can apply for a private loan at any time.
@thumper1 my parents don’t seem to think it’d be a problem, but I do. There’s not really been a clear-cut answer for me anywhere and I’d rather just pay the couple extra thousand this year rather than have to pay it all back, or worse.
The thing is, if I don’t have the grant I’ll need the loan to pay the rest of my tuition bill, otherwise I won’t see the inside of a classroom, period. I think I’m just going to update it despite what my parents have said because it’ll keep me up at night if I don’t.
@kelsmom
Hoping Kelsmom sees this and responds. She will be able to better give an answer. She works in a financial,aid office.
@goblue8481 wait until kelsmom responds. Or send her a PM.
This is a tough one, because not all schools check sibling enrollment, and not all schools would necessarily expect that you update enrollment at this point in time (perhaps later, and as you indicated, that might change aid). At the time you filed the FAFSA, you fully expected your brother to enroll in school for the year. Here is the thing: He might decide to enroll this year, after all. He could enroll for spring session.
My advice is to call your school and ask what you should do.
Update: I caved and called the people at FAFSA. Would love to hear from Kelsmom too! The agent told me not to update it because my FAFSA was successfully processed on 05/01/2017 and has not been flagged, meaning that everything is conditional to what was current “at the time of application.” Did the live chat so I could save a PDF and everything too, just to be sure. I may also contact my school’s FinAid office but I am wary of doing that as they seem to like to lower aid packages if a penny falls out of your pocket.
I will probably call the school. He’s a very odd kid and I highly, highly doubt he’ll be enrolling this year (if he even goes to school we’ll be lucky), but he could always surprise us. Would there be any harm in calling after everything has been paid for, or do you think it’d be best to do it before?
Thanks all for your help by the way! This has been the only thing on my mind for the last few days and I’m feeling some relief now!
You can ask the school your question anonymously.
If your brother decides not to go to college, your parents need to make sure he unenrolls completely. He can’t just not pay and not show up. He has to contact the registrar, housing, and the dining plan office or he’ll get billed for the semester and won’t be able to enroll elsewhere unless he pays it.
Maybe your brother would consider community college this fall or spring semester.